Browse the editorial styleguide A–Z

the brand name is Babcock Hall ice cream because it’s made by the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant, but an acceptable nickname is Babcock ice cream.

Badger Herald, the

although The is in its official name, use lowercase roman type for “the”; see CMS 8.168

BADGER HUDDLE®

Use the registered mark; write the phrase in all caps; including the is acceptable. Sometimes context calls for usage such as the Purdue BADGER HUDDLE®. Never say just HUDDLES, but BADGER HUDDLE® tailgates is acceptable. Use the initial-capped (but not all-capped) Huddle on subsequent references to a BADGER HUDDLE®. Periods and commas go after the ®. The word huddle is lowercase when referring to a literal football huddle or a gathering that’s figuratively called a huddle.

Badger Insider magazine (BI)

WAA’s magazine for its members; “magazine” is lowercase roman

Badger Leaders Conference (BLC)

Sponsored by the Wisconsin Alumni Association

Badger of the Year (BOY) Award

Awards bestowed by Wisconsin Alumni Association that recognize local alumni who are leaders in their professions or in their local communities.

the official team name of UW–Madison men’s and women’s athletics teams; acceptable as a substitute for the UW for teams and athletes on second reference; synonymous with graduates, fans, and friends of the university

biannual means twice a year and is a synonym for semiannual; biennial means every two years

Big Red

capitalize

Big Ten

not Big 10; UW–Madison is one of 14 institutions in the Big Ten Conference; the others are Indiana University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, University of Maryland, and Rutgers University

bimonthly, biweekly, semimonthly, semiweekly

bimonthly means every other month; biweekly means every other week; semimonthly means twice a month; semiweekly means twice a week

lowercase when generic, but uppercase when the term is included as part of the formal name of a group; see also regent, regents and CMS 8.68

Bonner, Paula

the degree year for the president emerita of the Wisconsin Alumni Association is MS'78

boys, men, girls, women

people who are of high school age or younger are boys and girls; people who are of college age or older are men and women

buildings

capitalize official names of campus facilities; on second reference, lowercase if a proper name is not used: the Mosse Humanities Building, the building, construction on Vilas; the word building may be used to prevent confusion with the academic department of the same name, but do not capitalize building in these cases: the Law School, the Law School building; in most cases, building names can stand alone: Grainger Hall, Nancy Nicholas Hall

bulleted information

Regardless of the style chosen for a document — complete sentences or not, end punctuation or not, an initial cap on the first word of each bulleted item or not, and the like — remain consistent throughout that particular document. If a second sentence is added to an item — which drives end punctuation on the first sentence — then all items in the bulleted list should have end punctuation.

bylines

Use graduation year(s) if the writer is a graduate; use birth/former name(s) unless the writer does not wish to include it/them. If a writer has more than one byline within a section of a publication, use the full name and graduation year(s) (if applicable) on the first reference and initials with no graduation year(s) on subsequent references. This does not apply to photo credits.